


The Iron Maiden

by edgarallenhoe



Series: The Life and Times of Iron Maiden [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Medical Torture, Other, Psychological Torture, The Avengers - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-10
Updated: 2015-06-11
Packaged: 2018-04-03 18:19:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4110493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edgarallenhoe/pseuds/edgarallenhoe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Quinn Rosen is a normal, healthy 18-year-old until she’s abducted and sold to HYDRA for experimentation. She is abused by her captors for two years, but develops the ability to bend metal to her will. She lives in this hell until the Avengers raid the base and save her. They see her potential and ask her to join their team, but she’ll have to go through some intense training to be able to control her newfound powers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mutation

Quinn stared at New York’s skyline. She was on top of the building she lived in with her parents, and from her vantage point she could just make out the Stark Tower. It was lit up, having just been recently repaired. She sighed as her phone buzzed in her hand. She glanced down and read the text from her mom asking when she’d be back down. She quickly typed out a reply and locked the phone.

She glared at the reflection of herself in the dark screen of the phone. Her appearance wasn’t the issue, the dark skin on her face had been pretty clear lately, minus the freckles. She did have bags under her eyes, but her hair was the real problem. She couldn’t tame the curly beast, and her reflection just showed off a particularly unruly flyaway sticking out of her head. She tried to fix it before she walked back down to her apartment. She was halfway down the stairs when she heard a crash coming from one of the rooms on the 12th floor. She noticed the door was ajar and decided to see if everything was okay.

“Hello? Is everything okay in here?” she called out as she stepped into the entryway of the apartment. The words had barely left her mouth when felt a sharp pain in the back of her and she saw the floor rising up to meet her.

She awoke in the back of a vehicle. Her arms and legs were bound with zip ties, and her mouth was gagged. She looked around and noticed another person lying on the floor of the vehicle. She herself had been propped up against the wall. She ascertained that it was whoever had been living in the room on the 12th floor. 

She was surprisingly calm right now, perhaps it was because there was nothing she could do tied up in the back of a moving truck. She could feel that her phone wasn’t in her pocket any longer, and she had no one to yell for in this horrifyingly isolated situation. Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought of her mother and father, who were probably worried sick about her. They probably assumed she had been kidnapped, as she had never had a reason to sneak out before and had never run away from home. She hoped someone would be looking for her soon.

She hadn’t realized that she had dozed off until she felt the jerk of the truck as it stopped somewhere. The person on the floor had finally awoken, and they looked to be a man in his early thirties. They glanced at each other with fear in their eyes as the truck door slowly slid open. Two unremarkable white men with brown hair and sunglasses on were standing outside. The sun beat down on the pair, but it looked like they were in the woods, with no other people around.

“I’ll take the woman,” one of the duo said.

“You sure? You know she costs extra, right?” the other stated.

“You’re pulling this shit? You know the folks upstairs won’t be too happy when I tell them you’re trying to cheat me. Again, might I add.”

“All right, all right. You wore me down. You can have her. Cash upfront, though.” 

The one buying her slapped a stack of cash into the other’s hand and got into the truck bed to retrieve her. He used a knife to unbind her legs but quickly slapped her and jammed a needle into her arm. 

“It’s a mild sedative,” he said. It sounded a bit like she was listening to him from underwater. He yanked her up and shoved her toward the exit. She stumbled around like she was drunk, whimpering the whole time, but the man didn’t care. He had a gun in his hand now, ready to shoot if she tried to run. This was far more terrifying than the van, she had decided. He led her into a huge gated facility that she hadn’t noticed before and could just barely make out now with her tired eyes.

“Don’t you dare fall over on me. I paid good money for you slut, and I don’t need any more trouble than you’re worth.” The gun at her back felt one hundred times more threatening with the man’s harsh words backing it. It was only then that she noticed the strange symbols everywhere: there were weird skulls with octopus tentacles on all the doors in the facility and a lot of the boxes littering the floors had the logo stamped on them.

“This’ll be your new home, whore. Get comfortable.” The man had led her to a cell with no windows and only one steel door. He hastily and roughly removed her wrist bindings and gag, and shoved her into the room. The door slammed behind him. She was alone. Completely and utterly alone.

She cried herself to sleep that night (or was it day? she couldn’t tell in the cell), but was awoken but someone kicking her stomach and legs and harsh yelling in her ears. She quickly stood, and a different man yanked her arm until she was in a strange-looking room with patient table directly in the center. The man gave her instructions to get on the table and then placed restraints on her arms, legs, and neck. She had never been so terrified.

Quinn’s greatest fear was not snakes, or the dark, or even spiders, but needles. And right now, she was being injected with so many different things, she didn’t even know how she’d keep sane unless someone rescued her soon. There were tubes and wires hooked up to her, and the man kept pushing needles into her arms and legs. He did not look inherently evil, he had black hair peppered with gray and dark brown eyes surrounded by crow’s feet. At first, he seemed like a normal man, but he was doing such vile things to her that she would never see him as anything but a villain.

At the end of the first day, she felt normal if not a bit light-headed. She was led back to her cell and given a meal of soup and a roll. She ate it faster than she had ever eaten in her life, for fear it would be taken from her. Then, she fell into a deep slumber. 

This routine continued for what was probably a few months, and then the pain began. It started with a dull ache in the back of her head, but spread to her entire skull. Soon, she couldn’t think straight and the days blurred together. She didn’t know if she was sleeping or standing or laying on the table. One night, she woke up shrieking, finally lucid. Her door, though, was completely off its hinges. She wondered what had happened. Had the door simply fallen and the sound woke her up? Or had she done this? It was not impossible to think that they had given her some sort of super-serum. Even though the door was open, she did not want to risk death by trying to escape. She simply lay back down and waited for morning.

When the scientist finally did come to get her, he was astonished at the door blown completely off the wall. He stared at her in shock.

“Did you do this?” he asked her. He had never spoken before; his voice was soft and warm-sounding, which just added to his not-evil demeanor. She did not verbally respond, opting for shrugging and presenting her arms to him. He yanked her up and practically ran to the lab. 

“... so many tests to run…” she heard him murmur. Great, just what she wanted.

Her life did not improve with the discovery that she could manipulate metal. In fact, they decided a metal cell was too easy for her to escape from and left her strapped to a bed with rope and leather bindings at night. She didn’t know why, she couldn’t control her powers anyways. Life went on like this for many months, but one morning she woke up to something unusual: the sound of gunfire.

She heard shots ringing out down the hall. Finally, a rescue! It had been months and she had almost given up hope, but this rejuvenated her and gave her the strength she needed to yell.

“Help! Someone help me! Please I’m being held captive here!” she screamed over and over. She could feel herself going hoarse when the door was unlocked. It was the scientist, much to her dismay. However, as soon as he entered, a bullet was put through his skull. A woman in a tight black suit with short red hair holstered her gun and strode over his body. 

“Cap, we’re gonna need a medical evac,” she seemed to be speaking into some sort of earpiece. Quinn didn’t really care, she was crying with relief. The woman undid her bindings and helped her off the table.

“What’s your name?” the redhead asked.

“I-I’m Quinn,” she stammered. She hadn’t spoken civilly to another person for… months, years? She really didn’t know.

“Well Quinn, I’m Natasha. And I promise I’m going to get you out of here, so just hold on.” She gave her a warm smile and led her out the door. Once outside, Quinn breathed a sigh of relief. She was finally free.


	2. Rehabilitation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quinn is safe from harm now, and she's living in the Stark Tower as she heals. She doesn't know what the future holds for her, but when Natasha comes to her with a proposition, she is left to ponder the difficult decision.

Quinn woke up to the sun shining in her face. She cracked a tired eye open and glared at the offending orb hanging in the sky at her eye level. She groaned and tried to roll over, forgetting the IV sticking into her arm. She immediately shrieked and a nurse came running in.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” the nurse asked while frantically checking the monitors and drips she was attached to.

“Nothing, I just tried to lay on my arm. I’m really sorry, I just freaked out. I… I thought I was back at the base,” she said sheepishly.

“Oh hon,” the nurse said gently as she smoothed Quinn’s hair back.

“It was stupid, I’m just so glad to be out,” Quinn shuddered and tried not to think about it anymore.

“Don’t worry, just press this button and I’ll be in here in a heartbeat. My name’s Beth and I’ll personally look after you, okay? And try not to worry, you’ll never have to go back there.” Her tone was very warm and Quinn couldn’t help but trust her instantly. She smiled weakly at Beth and rested her head back on the pillow.

She glanced outside the huge windows she was facing. Natasha had said they were going to the Stark Tower, but she hadn’t believed her. Yet here she was. If she squinted, she could just see the top of her parents’ apartment building. It looked miniscule, but she knew her parents were there, and they were waiting for her to come home. Would she be able to go back?

Natasha came to visit her later that day, to check up on her and make sure she was adjusting well to the facility. She greeted her warmly.

“Quinn, I’m so glad you’re awake. How have you been?” Natasha questioned the bedridden girl.

“Well, I’m alive. That’s a plus right?” Natasha grinned and took a seat next to her.

“I bet you’re wondering when you can get out of this place. Never really liked doctors, myself.”

“I was actually just about to ask that. Can I see my parents? Or can they see me? I guess I could call them, too. It’s been two years, though.” 

“I’ll make sure you get to contact them somehow. Now, I have a question for you. How would you feel about joining the Avengers initiative?”

Quinn felt like she had been punched in the gut. What a strange question to ask, she thought. Then she remembered her… mutation. She hated thinking about it, and it hadn’t bothered her since she had left the facility. Natasha noticed her grimace.

“We’ll teach you to control it, Quinn. Plus, I really need another girl on this team. It’s starting to become a sausage-fest.” Natasha was smiling patiently at the poor girl.

“I… I really don’t know. I don’t know the first thing about saving the world, but I can’t go back home can I? I’ll never be normal again,” she said, her voice wobbling. Tears threatened to escape as she looked anywhere in the room but at Natasha.

“Don’t worry about giving me an answer right now,” Natasha said. “If you do decide to join us, I’ll introduce you to the rest of the team. If you don’t, we’ll still have to teach you to control your powers. It’s going to be part of your physical therapy.”

“But I’ll get to go home?”

“I’ll make sure of it. You’re just a kid, Quinn. No kid should have to go through what you went through.” Quinn noticed the way Natasha’s jaw clenched up as she said that.

“Well, I’ll think about it, then.”

“That’s all I can ask.” Natasha grabbed her hand and clasped it tightly. Then, she rose.

“I’ll be back to visit you. Probably not as often as I’d like to, but I will be back.” 

“Thanks Natasha, I’ll see you around.” Natasha nodded and strode out of the room. Quinn flopped backward into her bed. She was a bit excited at this whole “joining the Avengers” prospect.

The next day, her physical therapy began. It seemed very intense to her even though it was just relearning how to walk and regaining the muscle in her legs. After a very long, grueling week Natasha returned and took her into the training room she was learning to walk in. Quinn felt a bit self-conscious in her hospital scrubs (she had refused to wear the gown outside of her room) next to Natasha, as she was wearing tight pants and a shirt that accentuated her assets. She threw the thought out of her mind, though, and focused on the room.

Sitting in the center were a bunch of metal weights and bars. She could only assume Natasha wanted her to lift them.

“Do I… Should I…?” Quinn stammered out.

“It’s okay, just try to move one. Whenever you’re ready,” Nat said.

Quinn took a deep breath and focused on the smallest weight. It was a five pound disk, and she was determined to move it. She concentrated with every fiber of her being on the small weight.

“Quinn, don’t forget to breathe,” Natasha suddenly laughed. Quinn let out the breath that she hadn’t even realized she was holding. Suddenly, the weight shifted. It only moved an inch or two but that was huge progress for Quinn.

“Did you see that!?” She turned to Natasha, looking stunned. 

“That was great Quinn! A good first step. I think that’s enough for today, we know you have some semblance of control over your power.” Natasha led her out of the room and back to her bed. Quinn couldn’t sleep that night, she spent the entirety of it trying to move things in the room. She only succeeded in pushing a lamp an inch toward the edge of the desk next to her.

Natasha tried to come back once a week to train her, but sometimes it was another member of the Avengers. So far she had met Clint and Steve. They were both very kind to her, and she liked them both immensely. She had shied away at first, but quickly warmed up when she realized how wonderful they were. Clint was more on the quiet side, but he always offered praise even when the smallest progress was made. Steve was a bit more critical, pushing her to do her best, but he was a great person to talk to, as he understood what it was like to have a super-serum pumping through his veins.

Eventually, she had complete control of her powers. She was sending the training weights flying all over the room and Natasha, Clint, and Steve were all watching her proudly. She wasn’t tired when she did it anymore, and she could control each individual piece of metal spinning around their heads.

“I told you guys she was great,” Natasha exclaimed, clapping her hands at Quinn’s progress.

“We kind of figured that out on our own,” Clint said as he, too, clapped for Quinn.

“Well Quinn, we still need fresh blood, what do you say?” Steve had come over to her and held out his hand as she set all the weights down. She glanced around and gulped. No more being afraid of my powers, Quinn thought. She threw her shoulders back and grasped the captain’s hand.

“I’d be happy to join you,” she announced. Natasha cheered and hugged her. Clint waited to shake her hand as well.

Two weeks later, Quinn finally got out of the hospital bed for good. She could walk, run, jump, and most importantly, control metal. And she could finally go see her parents. She had called them from the tower, and they were so glad to hear her voice, but now she could see them in person.

“Mom? Dad? Hello? Is anyone home?” she queried as she stood in the entryway to their little apartment. Suddenly, her mom’s small body flew at her and clutched her so tightly she couldn’t breathe. Her dad followed her and suddenly they were a mess of crying, hugging people.

“I have some big news,” she said as she pulled away. They led her to the dining room, and she excitedly told them about her choice to join the Avengers. She loved her parents, but she couldn’t wait to go back to the new members of her ever-growing family.


	3. Initiation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quinn's ready to join her new team on the front lines - or is she? She has a fancy new suit and weapons, but that isn't all it takes to be ready to take another human life. Moral dilemmas swim around in her mind as she prepares herself for her first battle.

“First thing’s first: introductions. These are your new team members, Ms. Rosen. They’ll be help you out with your powers, living arrangements, personal accommodations, etc.” Nick Fury was quite possibly the most intimidating man she had ever met. She couldn’t even look him in his one good eye. The others in the room were no better; it was like everyone in here had won the genetic lottery. She had already met Natasha, Clint, and Steve, and she knew how beautiful they all were. She figured, however, that the others couldn’t all be so handsome. Thor was like Asgard’s Next Top Model and Bruce Banner and Tony Stark were handsome in an I’m-dating-an-older-man-don’t-be-mad-mom sort of way.

“Ms. Rosen, are you even listening to me?” She had been staring at her hands intently, and hadn’t realized that it might look like she wasn’t interested. She was far from uninterested.

“Yes sir, sorry sir,” she quickly said. He nodded and continued.

“I expect everyone to be welcoming, do you all understand?”

“Don’t worry Fury, we’ll be good to her,” Nat assured him as she squeezed Quinn’s shoulder.

“The lady will come to no harm here,” Thor boomed. His loud voice made the room feel far too small.

“Well, that’s everything then. I’ll have new assignments for all of you this afternoon.” Fury strode purposefully out of the room while everyone turned to look at her.

“She’s cute, but how is she an asset to this team exactly?” Tony asked as he took a sip from a glass of scotch. He was sitting on the arm of a couch and toying with a bronze statue on the end table next to him.

“I’m surprised you haven’t read her file Tony. This is the girl we rescued from that base near Ottawa. And are you really drinking that? It’s 9 AM.” Natasha huffed at that end of her spiel.

“I haven’t read it because I wasn’t interested. I was on that raid and I don’t remember any girls. And yes, I need this.” He held his glass with both hands and glared at Natasha.

“You’re gonna be too drunk to go tonight, we have to fly overseas.”

“I’ll be fine, but you still haven’t answered my question. How is this… child going to help us?” Quinn was a bit miffed at the use of the word “child,” but figured Tony was probably right. All of a sudden, the statue Tony had been playing with slid off the table with a huge bang. It had fallen an inch from Tony’s foot.

“Quinn, did you do that?” Natasha wheeled around and looked at her disapprovingly.

“I don’t think I did it on purpose. Sorry!” Quinn exclaimed sheepishly.

“Wait, she did that? Without moving? Does she have some form of telekinesis?” Dr. Banner finally spoke, looking curiously at the dark-haired young girl.

“I can move metal. With my mind. I don’t really know why, I’m sure it’s in the ‘file’ that Natasha mentioned earlier,” she grimaced.

“I’m going to have to read about that,” Dr. Banner said, more to himself than anyone else.

“I suppose that is impressive. Can she control it?” Tony wondered aloud.

“Yes, she can. I think what just happened was just a little bit of overwhelming emotions. I think that’s enough for today. I’m gonna show Quinn to her room,” Natasha said as she helped Quinn up from the chair she had been sitting in.

“It was nice to meet you all.” Quinn let Nat lead her by the hand to the elevator, which they took up four floors.

“This is one of the residential wings in the building. There are three others, but this one is specifically for us. Steve has a room here, but he prefers his apartment. Clint and I crash here a lot after missions, but he usually stays elsewhere. Bruce has his own floor upstairs. Thor lives on Asgard but he does have a room. And this is Tony’s building, so he basically goes wherever he wants. This is your room now.” Natasha had led her to the very end of the hall and pointed to an unremarkable looking door.

“Here’s your access card, it’s just another layer of security. This building is almost impenetrable now, after that huge battle with Loki.” She swiped the card and they entered the room.

It was a very nice room, with expensive-looking sheets and drapes, yet simple patterns. The floor was hardwood and looked brand new. Her view of the city was perhaps the most impressive piece of the room. She had thought the view from the hospital wing was nice, this was a whole new level (literally). She could see the top of almost every other building. Her parents’ apartment looked like a child’s toy.

“This is amazing.” 

“I know, takes your breath away, doesn’t it?” They were both standing by the window just staring at the skyline.

“Well,” Natasha said, breaking the reverie, “We’ve got to get you prepped for the mission later. Your suit’s been made up and we’re going to go over protocols and-”

“Wait, what?” Quinn about jumped out of her skin. “I’m going on a mission so soon?”

“Of course. You need to just jump in. This is what you’ve been training for. Don’t worry too much, you’re not going to see much action. Everything Fury’s got for us is pretty much clean-up work.”

When Natasha said clean-up, she didn’t mean sweeping up dirty floors or washing windows. Six hours later, they were in a jet headed for a HYDRA base overseas. Natasha and Clint were showing her the features of her suit. 

It was a black leather suit, not unlike Natasha’s, with steel plating on her forearms and thighs. The jacket zipped all the way up to her neck, which was how she wore it. The shoes she had on were comfortable and practical black leather combat boots. Slung across her body was a sort of black tool belt. It held sharp metal disks, knives, grenades (much to her dismay), and other various metal weapons. Two larger knives were strapped to her waist.

“You need an alias. Something that’s attention getting, but practical. We already thought of one for you, sorry about the lack of input. How does ‘The Iron Maiden’ sound?” Natasha questioned Quinn.

“I guess I like it. Isn’t it a bit too much like Iron Man, though?”

“We thought that, but then decided your powers are so different that no one’s really gonna care,” Clint interjected.

“Okay, that’s fine then. I’m more worried about the mission itself, to be honest. I feel like I’m not going to be much help. Plus…” she trailed off and looked at the floor, a fearful look her eyes.

“What is it?” Steve looked genuinely concerned.

“I’ve never… I’ve never killed anyone before.” The jet seemed to go silent as the words escaped her mouth. Steve’s brow furrowed and he gently grabbed her shoulders.

“Look at me. I know it’s going to be difficult, but these are the bad guys. These men hurt you, and they’re hurting others like you. We’re not saying you have to kill them. But we need to at least incapacitate long enough to get in there and blow the place. You don’t have to kill anyone.”

“What, um, what does it feel like? To kill someone I mean,” Quinn stammered.

“It never gets easier, that’s all I can really say.” There was an ancient-looking sadness in his eyes as he released her. The tears that were threatening to fall out of her own halted and and she steeled herself to do well in this fight. This was her chance to prove herself. And she didn’t have to kill anyone to prove that she would be worthy.

“We’re nearing the base. Everyone get ready,” Clint suddenly said. She took a deep breath, getting ready to fight.

Down on the ground, she was about as much help as she assumed she’d be. All she could really do was throw rocks at the HYDRA agents’ heads. She had one of the larger knives in her hand and kept darting around behind trees and boulders as the fight raged on around her. Then, her feet seemed to slide out from under her as a gust of wind blew past her. She fell to the ground with a small “oof” and landed on her back.

She looked around, confused and scared. Her grip on the knife seemed to tighten, and she eyed the large boulder she had hidden behind earlier. Could she lift it? If she concentrated hard enough. She would not resort to using the knife. Again, though, she felt the wind and fell, this time face-first. Groaning, she pushed herself up on her elbows and looked around. It seemed like everything was remotely quiet where she was, she could hear gunfire and shouting, but it all seemed to have moved away from her. Then, she saw it.

It was a streak of blue, it looked like puff of air moving quickly toward her. However, she discovered that it was tangible when she felt it blow over her and shove her face back into the dirt.

“You didn’t see that coming?” a male voice above her asked in a thick Eastern European accent. She laid still and flung the boulder in the direction of the voice with all her might. When she looked up, though, the body attached to the voice was gone. She looked around one last time and began to run as fast as she could back to the battle.

“We’ve got something here. I think it’s an enhanced. Seems to have some form of super speed,” she heard Clint’s voice say over the comm. That explained why she never saw him then. 

She was running so quickly, and had become a bit out of breath, but she still heard the man coming up behind her. He was quickly gaining on her, and she figured she wouldn’t have a lot of time to think this one through. She seemed to hear him fire his gun in slow-motion. Her head whipped around and she could see the bullets pulsing towards her. She closed her eyes and concentrated. When she opened them, the bullets were inches from her, one in front of the center of her forehead. Her nostrils flared as she sent the bullets back as fast as they had come.

She hadn’t realized what she had done until it was too late. The man fell to his knees with a bullet lodged in almost every limb on his body. In the center of his temple was a small red hole, leaking blood onto the rest of his face. He fell face forward into the dirt. She backed up against a tree and took a ragged breath, sobs threatening to escape her throat. She hoped and prayed that none of the enemies had seen her. She didn’t have the energy to kill anyone else.

She felt like someone was watching her, but if they were not going to act on anything then she figured she should probably get out of here. 

“Where are you guys? I’m so ready to go,” she said shakily into the comm. 

“Nat’s coming, sit tight,” Steve grunted, sounding like he was still engaged. She jogged back to where she could see the main facility over a hill and saw Natasha sprinting to get her.

“Not hurt? I knew you’d be fine,” Natasha said warmly. “Now let’s get out of here.”

All of the enemies were defeated and they got what they had come to get apparently. She didn’t really know much about the mission as she had assumed they were going to be cleaning a few hours before. She heard Steve and Clint muttering about the enhanced. Was that what she was? She assumed as much. She found herself seated next to Natasha.

“Nat, I did something out there today that I’m not proud of. I… I killed someone.”

“Well done. I know it doesn’t seem like something to be proud of, but these people are evil. There’s no gray area here. They chose to be this way, to do horrible things to innocent people. They think what they’re doing is righteous but it’s just wrong.”

All Quinn could do was stare at her hands. 

“Listen to me, Quinn,” Natasha spoke with a fire in her voice as she took Quinn’s hands in her own. “You did nothing wrong, and you have nothing to be ashamed of. The captain’s right, it doesn’t get easier. But when you see the things we’ve seen, it’ll feel more… justified.”

Quinn didn’t know how killing anyone could feel right or justified, but she nodded and slid her hands out of Natasha’s grasp.

“Tell you what, when we get back to the tower, we’ll go to dinner. My treat, your choice?” 

“That sounds nice, I’d like that,” Quinn said as she closed her eyes. It was going to take some getting used to, but she hadn’t died on her first mission, so that had to be a plus. As scary as it might have seemed, she looked forward to the future.


End file.
